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When Single Spy went back to the super-cool K Spa in London, she found her own little piece of heaven in an outstanding massage treatment. This isn't an easy place to drift around in, but it's a great place for a group of friends, with a wide variety of things to do on offer.
First impressions?
How did they welcome you?
What happens next?
Which treatments did you have?
What were the treatments like?
How did you feel afterwards?
What happens afterwards?
Long-term effects
Was it worth it?
What else could you have?
What do you wish you'd known before you went?
Who do you think would like it?
Why did you give the spa this rating?
Would you go again?
First impressions?
K Spa is in the K West hotel, just off Shepherds Bush Green in West London. Although it's not in the most picturesque of London's landscapes, the renovated K-West building itself is a classy venue, with a glass front that lets in a lot of light as you walk through the large glass doors to Reception.
I was actually staying in the hotel as I was at a conference in London the next day, and had been invited to visit the spa while I was there. So I checked in and went to my room first. Initial navigation can be a little confusing. Reception, which you may naturally think is on the ground floor, is on the third floor, as the building is on a hill. My room was on the first floor, which is so much more attractive than "the basement", so I went down in the lift. Good point was: all I had to do was walk along the corridor from my bedroom and voilà, I was at the spa. If only it were always so easy.
How did they welcome you?
The pleasant receptionist greeted me. Michael, one of the spa members of staff, took me on a tour of the spa. The reception and treatment rooms are on one side of the corridor. Along this corridor a bit is the relaxation room and the "sun meadow" where you can get light (not tanning) treatments. The gym (spacious and bright with plenty of equipment including a Power Plate) is upstairs. On the other side of the corridor is a room where you can get manicures and pedicures, then further along are the changing rooms and the "wet spa area" -- two steam rooms (individually scented), a sauna, and a Jacuzzi in a large room where you can also lounge around.
Each individual area is enjoyable, but you can't get away from the fact that the spa is actually divided in two by a hotel corridor. It's the equivalent of having the M6 drive through your spa. There are frequent transits of suitcase-bearing residents jostling by as you do your best to drift around in a robe.
What happens next?
I got changed and went to the "wet spa area". The spa also functions as a health club, so the changing rooms are a little on the Spartan side, with lots of wooden lockers and three showers, plus you need a pound coin for your locker. In my locker was my robe and slippers, so I was ready to spa.
From the changing rooms, you go through a tiled corridor to two steam rooms -- both are nicely hot but have plastic seating, functional rather than luxury -- and both have space for seven people. The sauna is wooden, and also nicely hot. I wasn't sure I was going to get a look in the Jacuzzi, it being occupied by three imposing people with tattoos on every visible inch of their bodies, but I did nip in when they went off to explore the sauna. The Jacuzzi is a soft temperature, and good to chill out with friends.
After I had sufficiently relaxed, I went back to Spa Reception and was directed through to the adjoining, softly-lit waiting area where I waited for my therapist to collect me. There is tea here, and iced water, and lots of chairs done in what I would consider "ESPA" purple. I filled in a short health consultation form and soon my therapist, Lyudmila, came to meet me and took me through to the treatment room.
Which treatments did you have?
I was booked in for the K Spa Signature Ritual (£190, 2 hours and 15 minutes). I was looking at the spa brochure in my hotel room just before I went along to the spa, and the description gave very little sense of what the treatment might be like. It advertises: "heat experience - personal sauna; welcome foot ritual and consultation; skin brushing and exfoliation, hot stones treatment; stress buster incorporating an express facial with oriental massage; restorative body wrap". That seemed like such a mish-mash of elements (what was a welcome foot ritual doing after a sit in a sauna?) that I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it.
What were the treatments like?
Fantastic.
The treatment room Lyudmila took me to was quite large -- it needed to be as it had a water-treatment bed, a massage couch, then a raised area containing a small sauna and a shower, with a chair between the two. This was where we began, as logic dictates, with the welcoming foot ritual, or, as the rest of us call it, having your feet washed.
While she was washing my feet, Lyudmila explained the order of events: first a mud coating, then I would float weightless while the mud did its good work, then I'd have a sit in the sauna to relax my muscles, then I'd have a massage. Sounded good to me.
I hopped onto the water bed and Lyudmila brushed and exfoliated my skin. She then coated me with some smooth, grey mud, wrapped me up in a towel and a blanket, and asked if I was claustrophobic. Luckily, no.
At that, she pressed a button and the base of the bed suddenly dropped, and was replaced with water. I only sank down a few inches, so it wasn't like I was at the bottom of a well, but it was a bit of a lurch. Once I was supported by the water, though, it was very relaxing. As the water was heated, I didn't get cold throughout the 20 minutes of lying there wrapped up like a baby. I didn't quite drift off to sleep, but I did unwind, and it was great to feel so floaty. It took stress and pressure off the whole of my body. The only thing that irritated was the music playing. It was quite upbeat, with some deranged jazz trumpet, then a mad drummer, and later a female voice getting all breathy. I had asked for the music to be turned down when I first arrived in the room, but with nothing else to listen to while floating, it didn't add to my good mood.
Lyudmila had asked if I wanted to be left alone to relax while I was floating or if she should come back and check on me. Nice to know you haven't been abandoned. I wanted to be checked.
I was very reluctant to get out of the water when my time was up, but I went to sit in the sauna for a short while, and that, followed by a cooling shower to get rid of the mud, got me ready for the massage.
I enjoyed the massage very much. I started by lying face down, and first Lyudmila massaged my muscles using oil, then again with the hot stones. My calves hadn't had such a good workout in months. Lyudmila's thumbs were like guided missiles homing in on the knots of tension in my shoulders. She moved her hands up and down my spine and all the way around the base of my neck. Then I turned onto my front and she massaged my shoulders, arms and the front of my legs. I don't think anyone has ever massaged my kneecaps before. I liked the way she ended the massage of each area with soft feathery strokes -- it let you know that bit was coming to an end, rather than just stopping abruptly. It was all so enjoyable, I didn't want it to end.
The treatment ended with Lyudmila applying some pink hair and scalp mud to my hair, and an Indian head massage. It was a very relaxing end to a very relaxing treatment.
How did you feel afterwards?
I had great difficulty getting from the horizontal to the vertical.
What happens afterwards?
Lyudmila took me through (via Reception and along the corridor) to the relaxation room. There are six white loungers here and a jug of iced water for refreshment. Each lounger has its own a set of headphones and an individual light for reading. To be honest, though, I couldn't see what this was for as there was a distinct shortage of anything to read. There was an ESPA product brochure but, while this has its literary merits, it's a bit thin on gripping narrative momentum.
I gave up on the lounger (the headphones piped through just one choice of music, and that was the cd I'd been listening to for the last two hours, and hadn't liked after two minutes). So I went back to the changing room and got ready for real life.
Long-term effects
I slept very well that night and felt less shoulder-sore the next day.
Was it worth it?
The treatments are relatively expensive at K Spa, but if you took the opportunity to arrive early, and to use the leisure facilities afterwards, you could spend at least half a day enjoying yourself, and that would be good value for money.
What else could you have?
There's a wide range of treats on the spa menu, including ESPA face and body treatments, with scrubs and wraps as well as massages. There's a whole set of ESPA "treats for the boys", too. K Spa also offers treatments using Ytsara products, and these are Eastern-inspired, so if you're a fan of Samunprai (traditional hot Thai massage), you'll be pleased. You can also try both Ytsara and ESPA treatments in a range of day-spa packages, which include lunch. (I am informed that groups go up in their robes to Kanteen, the rather stylish restaurant on the fourth floor, which must make for a remarkable contrast.)
Across the corridor is a separate room where you can have manicures and pedicures, using LCN products, and the spa also offers waxing and eyelash and eyebrow tinting and shaping.
What do you wish you'd known before you went?
If you're staying at the hotel, you'll need to pay an extra charge to use the gym and the wet spa area. You'll also need a pound coin for your locker, but you can pick up towels from the spa.
Who do you think would like it?
People who live or work nearby. K Spa is ideally situated for BBC staff, Olympia exhibition delegates and Notting Hillbillies in general. I think you'd enjoy the spa facilities most with friends, but you could enjoy the treatments alone.
Why did you give the spa this rating?
We gave K Spa 4 bubbles because it delivers excellent treatments and a good variety of them, too. They're never going to get away from the fact that they have a busy hotel corridor dividing it into two. So that means it's going to be hard to achieve the rarefied atmosphere of total relaxation a good spa delivers. But you would have a great time here with a group of friends exploring all the facilities.
The quality of the treatments is the spa's outstanding virtue, though.
See more on how we rate the spas
Would you go again?
If I lived or worked locally, I'd join the gym and treat myself to the occasional spa indulgence.
We visited K Spa in June 2008
Like the sound of this? You're in luck.
Follow this link to book a special spa offer at K Spa with our partners lastminute.com
See also:
* Our Spa Spies review Ytsara products
* Massage
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